For my birthday

I want 

You to listen to something you don’t understand

I want you to trust

That these words carry the same weight 

As my room

That I carried on my back

For 5 years

And in my chest

In silence 

For the other 18

Let me take

Janam

Again

On my own terms

 

Janam Din Mubarak: Translates to “happy birthday” from Punjabi
Janam: Translates to “birth” from Punjabi

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Simran is a 25 year old descendant of 'old stories, new relations'. Born in Ambala, India, she spent almost the entirety of her recall-able life on several unceded and occupied homelands of the Coast Salish peoples on the West Coast of Turtle Island. Home, family, relations, and the tensions between them all have often served as her inspiration to write. As she seeks to come to terms with her fractures, it is her hope that her writing may evolve to also sprout from joy as much as it has from resilience. As the fish of the zodiacs, she hopes to step into the depth of her being and dreams, letting them now guide her words, in the same way that they have guided her all her years.